Port Vale fan banned for racist abuse of Leyton Orient's Lawrence Vigouroux

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Orient keeper Lawrence Vigouroux shared screenshots of abusive messages he received after his side's 3-2 defeat at Vale Park on his Twitter accountImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Leyton Orient keeper Lawrence Vigouroux shared screenshots of abusive messages he received after his side's 3-2 defeat at Vale Park

Port Vale have imposed an "indefinite ban" on a teenage supporter for racially abusing Leyton Orient goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux.

The ban takes immediate effect, while Vale said in a statement that there is an ongoing police investigation.

"The individual who sent the message has been interviewed by police and is now being dealt with by the criminal justice system," said the club.

"Vale owner Carol Shanahan also made contact with the player to apologise."

The social media post came after Vale's 3-2 League Two win over Orient in Burslem on 2 October.

Former Liverpool trainee Vigouroux, 27, shared screenshots of abusive messages he received after the game on his own Twitter account.

"Football, such a beautiful game ruined by people like this," he said.

Vale also retweeted a post from Orient's account showing a photo of Vigouroux and the words "hate won't win".

"No one should face racist abuse in any circumstances, we're all with you Loz," Leyton Orient tweeted.

On seeing the message, Vale quickly issued a statement via social media to reiterate their zero tolerance stance "to all forms of abuse".

Vale's statement added: "We would like to thank colleagues at Leyton Orient for their support in dealing with this matter as swiftly as possible.

"Both clubs would like to reiterate our zero tolerance stance to abuse of any kind and thank fans who condemned the individual responsible for the message and offered support to the player."

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